Monday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 1, 2024

Matthew 8, 18-22

When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other shore. A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”

“When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other shore.”  As St. Matthew tells it, the Lord desired to cross to another shore after he had spent the better part of the preceding evening healing the sick.  The Lord is ever on the move, preaching and healing. 

“A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”  This scribe, presumably a Pharisee, comes to the Lord and announces to him that he will follow him everywhere.  He does not need to tell the Lord this; he could simply do it.  It seems, though, that he wants praise from the Lord, or an invitation to join his Apostles, or merely the approval of the crowd.  The Lord warns him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”  That is, even the animals have places to sleep, but he and his Apostles do not, so constant is their life on the move.  The life of preaching the Gospel requires the utmost sacrifices and eschews any worldly reward.  The Lord’s answer is wonderfully poetic in its imagery.  We can interpret it in many ways, as well, following the Fathers.  The “foxes” can be understood as thieves and robbers, while the “birds” can be understood as those who give up everything in order to live a life of prayer and contemplation: thus, even the thieves have a regular place to live, as do monks, nuns, and hermits, but not the Son of Man.

“Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”  One of those who was already a disciple says this.  According to Luke 9, 59, the disciple answers in this way after Jesus had told him, “Follow me.”  The disciple uses an idiom here, saying, in effect, I will follow you when my father dies and I have made arrangements for my family.  It is something like a refusal and reminds of the excuses offered by those invited to the great feast in the parable, such as, “I have bought a farm and I must needs go out and see it. I pray you, hold me excused” ( Luke 14, 18).  This brings a stinging rebuke from the Lord: “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”  That is to say, those who will not follow him are the dead.  This disciple has life and death set before him.  To reject the invitation of the Lord is to reject true life.  The Lord Jesus was not calling him to be an Apostle, but simply to follow him steadfastly, rather than trying to follow him part-time or half-heartedly.

We need not leave our homes and families in order to follow the Lord Jesus.  We can follow him at home, within our families, and in our jobs.  We remember the practical way that Mother Teresa answered a young woman who wanted to join her order but could not because of her responsibilities: “Where I go, you cannot, but where you go, I cannot.  Together, we can do something beautiful for God.”  We can follow the Lord wherever we are if our heart is with him.

 The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 30, 2024

Mark 5, 21–43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him. There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But his disciples said to Jesus, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”  While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.

In today’s Gospel Reading, St. Mark recounts two events demonstrating the necessity of faith for salvation.  He presents them, as also St. Matthew does, in a story-within-a-story form, as certainly they must have occurred and as St. Peter, from whom Mark heard them, would have presented them in his preaching both in Israel after Pentecost and later in Rome.  

In the main story, a man named Jairus pleads for Jesus to come and heal his daughter.  He represents her as being “at the extremity of death”, that is, at the point where death is imminent.  When Jesus nears the house, however, those coming from there say to Jairus, “Your daughter did die.  Why are you still bothering the teacher” (literally, from the Greek).  These words strongly suggest that Jairus knew or, at least, had been told, that his daughter had died.  Losing no time, he ran out of the house where his daughter lay and found Jesus and begged him to come.  Jairus may have been suffered from denial at being told that his daughter was dead. 

Jesus agrees to go back with him.  The rebuke by those from the house seems strange to us.  These would have been mourning the death of this young girl and perhaps resented that the father had left when he should have stayed to comfort his wife and the rest of his family.  Depending on how late it was in the day, there may have been some urgency in burying her, as well, and they were responding to that.  Jesus looks upon the suffering man with great kindness and tells him not to fear but to have faith.  If we read this without knowing how the story will end, this will strike us as ridiculously beside the point.  Certainly those who have come from the house know what is going on better than Jesus, and what good is faith when there is no reason for it?  The words, “Do not be afraid” also seem very odd and out of place.  But Jesus sees the fear in the father’s eyes that it is true, that his beautiful daughter has died.

And evidently some time has passed between the time Jairus left the house and when Jesus arrives there, for, as we learn from St. Matthew’s account, the flute players have arrived and the ritual of mourning is in progress.  This would be antecedent to the body being wrapped for the burial.  Jesus looks around at all this and declares, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”  The mourners doubtlessly saw this as ridicule of the grieving family and were angry with him.  But he entered the house with the father, went directly to the girl’s room, took the girl’s hand, and bid her rise,  She “arose immediately and walked around.”  She does not recover: she gets up.  It is as though she had never been sick.  The girl does not get up from her bed slowly, as though she were waking up from a long sleep.  She is suddenly alive.  Life fills her again.  The parents were utterly astounded, thunderstruck.  Outside the house the flute players are playing their doleful tunes, relatives and friends are weeping uncontrollably, but inside the girl’s room there is shock and unutterable joy.  The father had believed in Christ’s power when it was the hardest to believe, and that is real faith.  And the Lord rewarded that faith with life.  One day he will point to our graves and say, Little one, arise! and we shall, just as the daughter of Jairus did. 

The woman who suffered the blood issue likewise showed enormous faith and took terrible risks to be saved from her affliction.  Very likely she was homeless by the time she met Jesus, she entered into the crowd, where she must have covered herself up so that she would not be thrust away with sticks, for women did not mix publicly with men in those days, and since her defiling infirmity would have been known to all.  Not daring to come before the Lord but still firmly believing in his power, she thought to touch only his garment to be healed.  The Greek text for “she felt in her body that she was healed” gives the sense that she was suddenly filled with an absolute certainty that she had been healed.  It came on her like a powerful, interior jolt.  The Lord looked about himself for her — that is, giving the woman a chance to come forward — and has her tell her story for all to hear.  This gives him the opportunity to tell her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.”  That is, her strong faith in him opened the door for him to heal her.

We pray that we may so grow in our faith that we may be saved from eternal death.

 The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Saturday, June 29, 2024

2 Timothy 4, 6–8; 17–18

I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance. The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Although St. Paul wrote the above lines in his Second Letter to Timothy, St. Peter could have written them as well, for both Apostles worked zealously for the spread of the Gospel.  Both men passionately loved the Lord Jesus.  We see his love on his rash promise, on Holy Thursday, to die for the Lord (a promise he made good on about thirty years later) and in his running to the tomb after hearing that the Lord’s Body was not there.  We see Paul’s love for the Lord in deeply touching reflections such as, “For to me, to live is Christ: and to die is gain” (Philippians 1, 21).

“I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation.”  A “libation” was a drink offering poured out to a god on an altar.  The wine or other drink was completely emptied out, with the priest or attendant shaking the vessel so that not a drop was missing.  Paul feels as though he has nothing left to give, that he is empty.  He has been poured out by God in service to God.  True sanctity is to give oneself to God even when there is nothing left to give — friends, family, health is gone.  There remains no reason to praise God or to thank him except for his own sake.  Peter and Paul, through their extensive travels, various persecutions, arrests, beatings, and their endless work of preaching and leading the churches they founded, had arrived at this point at the time of their final arrests.  “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me.”  Paul says this to Timothy in order to give him an example to follow.  Paul saw his work as a competition, even as a race.  He ran, knowing that his eternal salvation depended on his “winning” the race, that is, in finishing all the work that God gave him.  He knew full well how great the work lay before him, for at the beginning of his conversion, God said to Ananias, a Christian of Damascus, “For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (Acts 9, 16).  Likewise, Peter knew that suffering lay ahead of him in his service to the Lord: “When you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you and lead you where you would not” (John 21, 28).  “The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed.”  Throughout the Acts of the Apostles we can see how the Lord strengthened both Peter and Paul so that they could rejoice that they had suffered for Christ.  Both men were on the point of being killed by mobs or the authorities multiple times, and both were rescued “from the lion’s mouth” in order to continue preaching.  

We know much from the Scriptures about the journeys of Paul throughout Syria, Asia Minor, and Rome.  Peter worked in Jerusalem for some years, while also preaching in cities and towns throughout Syria and Asia Minor, especially in Antioch, where he remained for a few years.  Afterwards he went to Rome, where he spent the rest of his life.  St. Jerome tells us that that this occurred in the year 42.  We do not know whether Peter and Paul met in Rome, though legends circulating in subsequent centuries say that they preached together and engaged in debate with Simon Magus, the magician mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles.  According to the Fathers, especially, Tertullian and Origen, Peter was crucified head downwards during the reign of Nero, and Paul, a Roman citizen, was accorded execution by beheading.  Both suffered in about the year 67.

 Friday in the 12th Week of Ordinary Time, June 28, 2024

Matthew 8, 1-4

When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it. Be made clean.” His leprosy was cleansed immediately. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”

Often when folks are looking for some kind of assistance, usually financial, they tell long and involved stories of bad luck or terrible loss, or of someone else’s  failure.  The people they go to for help, whether social workers, commuters, ministers, or priests listen with varying degrees of patience, wishing the speaker would simply state what he wants.  It is always the same story, when it comes to brass tacks, and the longer the story the less it hangs together, but unless the listener is pressed for time, he listens, and helps if he can.  

In the above account from St. Matthew’s Gospel, a leper approaches Jesus and says to him directly, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”  The Greek δύνασαί, here translated as “you can”, has the sense of “you are able”, or, “you have the power” to make me clean.  The leper acknowledges him as “Lord”, not “teacher”, which tells us that he recognizes himself as Christ’s subject.  Then he says to him, You have the power to make me clean, as though putting forward a claim on the Lord’s care, even reminding him of his responsibility.  The leper’s prayer — for that is what it is — possesses a marvelous concision.  He knows that Jesus and everyone else around him knows his condition.  The smell of his rotting flesh by itself would have given him away.

The leper says, “If you wish”, or, “If you will”.  He does not attempt to flatter Jesus, as many people looking for favors offer flattery in order to secure them.  His words are few and direct.  They reflect a faith that is also direct, a certainty that all is dependent on the will of the One before him.  “You can make me clean.”  It is not an order or a cringing plea, but a presentation of a need.  The man seems to have approached Jesus suddenly, casting aside the strict laws mandating that he keep a distance from those who were healthy.  Perhaps he had been taking refuge in one of the countless niches and caves in the mountains in that region, and come out rather abruptly when he saw Jesus descend after speaking to the crowd.  It is not clear how far the disease had progressed in his body, but it seems that he could still walk and communicate.  He also seems to be alone, rather than with a group of fellow sufferers, which strikes one as curious because they did live and move around in small groups.  Living outside, his clothing must have gotten ragged and he himself would have become disheveled, perhaps stooped over over a walking stick.  He would have been hungry, his scanty meals eaten at irregular times.  Even so, there was his faith, a bright flame among the spent charcoal.  

“You can make me clean.”  The leper lays his helplessness before Jesus along with his statement of faith.  There are no stories, no excuses, no blaming anyone for what has happened to him, no attempt to shame Jesus into helping him.  And Jesus “stretched out his hand, touched him.”  Jesus did not always touch the sick to heal them.  That he does so here is noteworthy because he touched a leper, rendering himself unclean.  Jesus was not afraid to make himself unclean.  He says to the leper, “I do will it.  Be made clean” (better translated as, I will it: Be made clean).  Here we see, in a fleeting moment, all that Jesus did in his life on earth: he touched humanity, leprous with sin, he healed those who presented themselves to him, seeking the cure only he could give, and in the process renders himself unclean — he takes on our uncleanness, “was made sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5, 21).  And in doing so, he saves us.  “His leprosy was cleansed immediately.”  That is, not by any natural means, but supernaturally.  Likewise, the conferral of baptism immediately cleanses a person from all sin, personal and original.  

Then Jesus says, “See that you tell no one.”  And he instructs him to follow the Mosaic Law so that he will be recognized by the authorities as cured.  But why would Jesus order him not to tell anyone?  It could not be that he wanted to conceal his power from public knowledge.  He had already openly performed a large number of miracles.  Perhaps this was a test of obedience meant for this man particularly.  Jesus often tested the individuals with whom he came into contact, as when he told the rich young man, “Why do you call me ‘good’?” (Mark 10, 18).  

So much occurs in this brief, laconic account.  Especially, we learn how to pray.  We go to God directly and ask for help, presenting both our need and our faith in him, and letting him help us in the way he judges best.

 Thursday in the 12th Week of Ordinary Time, June 27, 2024

Matthew 7, 21-29

Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’  Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”  When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

The purpose of the Sermon on the Mount, which is found in Matthew 5-7 is, like so much else in this Gospel, to prepare the early Jewish Christians for the final judgment.  The Lord Jesus says to his disciples, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven.”  That is, many people will address Jesus as “Lord”, but not many people will act as though they believe that he is the Lord.  These will either consider him inferior to themselves and their own judgments, or they will attempt to manipulate him for their own profit.  Of the first group, some will pick and choose which of his commandments to follow and decide for themselves how to follow them, and some will say to themselves that Jesus is an important historical figure but whose commandments are limited to a certain time and place and so are no longer relevant.  Of the second group will be those who found cults and “churches” claiming that they have finally uncovered the authentic message of the Gospel, the meaning of the Lord’s commandments, and the “true” identity of Jesus.  Often, these people will combine thin shreds of the meat of the Gospel with fatty chunks of Eastern or New Age/gnostic  beliefs.  Others of this group will seek political power by invoking the Lord’s name when convenient and falsely claiming to belong to him. “Only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” will enter the Kingdom of heaven — those who have his name engraved on their hearts.

“Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in your name, and cast out devils in your name, and done many miracles in your name?”  Many false Christians — particularly the manipulators — will say this to the Lord when he comes to judge.  These used the Lord’s name to justify their religious cults or political statements and policies.  It is because people even in early times did this that St. Paul told the Thessalonian Christians: “Test everything.  Hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 51, 21).  How can we know if something or someone is good or not?  Earlier in the sermon Jesus told the crowd, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7, 15-16).  That is, we must examine their works closely to see if the fruit is fresh or rotten.  The Fathers comment that these false Christians only seem to perform miracles and to cast out devils, but they do not in fact do this.  The claims, which are bald-faced lies, these people will make show the desperation of those who make them: lying even to Christ himself.   “I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.”  The Lord will tell these liars and frauds that he “never knew them”, not that he did not know who they were or that they were false, but that he never knew them as his own followers: “My sheep hear my voice. And I know them: and they follow me” (John 10, 27).

Having established that there will be false prophets in whom people will believe and choose for their lords, Jesus now tells what will happen to these and what will happen to those who believe in him: “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.”  A person who is careful and skillful does not build his house just anywhere, but first looks for a place to lay a solid foundation.  He does not choose swampy ground, even though it may be inexpensive, nor a site that is near a body of water and is below its level.  He looks for rocky ground, or a flat place where he can pour concrete for a foundation.  This foundation will hold up the walls and ultimately the roof of the house.  For the Christian, this means knowing the teachings of Christ and faithfully following them, and knowing him in his teachings and through prayer.  “The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.”  The “rain” which falls on the house is the darkness of superstition and false teaching which assail the Christian through the voices of non-believers.  The “floods” are interior temptations against the virtues, such as those against chastity, modesty, and temperance.  The “winds” are persecutions and tribulations that the faithful suffer.  None of these is strong enough to tear the true believer from belief in Christ.  One who does not have faith, or whose faith is weak, will certainly fall because of one or more of these.  He will collapse and be “completely ruined”.  He will lose everything, including his life, because he “built his house” — put his faith — in the obviously unsuitable sandy ground of those who promise false freedoms.

 Wednesday in the 12th Week of Ordinary Time, June 26, 2024

Matthew 7, 15-20

Jesus said to his disciples: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.”

The Lord’s easy use of the natural world to teach deep matters to the people reveals his love for it and for the folks whom he taught.  He shows himself not as a Pharisee, caught up in the vagaries of the Law, but as a common man who was raised in the country and who knew it well.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves.”  St. Matthew is most keen to report every utterance the Lord made against false prophets.  This came from his own concern with the imminent end of the world, and from his experience as a Jew living in Galilee who had seen many false prophets even before Jesus began his Public Life.  These false prophets, Jesus warns, would disguise themselves as virtuous, God-fearing men.  Just so, St. John warns us that the Antichrist who will come near the end of the world will appear as a holy person, as signified by the number 666, which was regarded by both Jews and Gentiles as a perfect number, as the number 6 is the sum of the first three whole numbers: 1 + 2 + 3 = 6.  The Lord describes these false prophets as dressed in sheep’s clothing, that is, so as to resemble the Lamb of God in appearance as closely as possible.  However sweet-sounding their words, “by their fruits you will know them.”  A close look at what they actually do, lying, cheating stealing, and misleading the faithful with their teachings, tells us that they are both false and exceedingly dangerous.  Some false prophets do and will hold positions of leadership within the Church and seek to destroy it from within, just as the wicked kings of Judah  led the people into idolatry and the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians as a result.  “Every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.”  This is a further warning for those who think they can compromise with false prophets in order to keep the peace, or who think that the false prophets may utter some good teaching at some time or perform some laudable act for the benefit of the Church.  This is foolish and puts souls at risk.  

False prophets will also arise outside the leadership of the Church, some claiming to have received or be receiving messages from God, the blessed Mother, or the angels.  In times of crisis when the Church’s leadership seems oblivious to the wolves of error ravaging the flock of God and when war and the threat of war or other catastrophes are present, people are susceptible to such as these.  

“Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  This is a warning to the “bad trees” and to the wolves disguised as sheep.  They will be cut down publicly — exposed as frauds — and burned in the undying flames of hell.

“By their fruits you will know them.”  Again, the Lord urges the faithful to examine closely the works of those who profess to be leaders in the Church or to have divine messages.  We should not be embarrassed to admit that we have been fooled, if we have been, but to care for our souls so that we do not lose them to the wicked charlatans who are hunting for them.

 Tuesday in the 12th Week of Ordinary Time, June 25, 2024

Matthew 7, 6; 12-14

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets. Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”

Omission of verses 7-11 in this Gospel Reading is made because those verses treat of different subject, prayer.

Those who would accuse our Lord of the social sin of “exclusion” might find grist for their mill here.  But this exclusion is not a matter of forcing people out but of recognizing the fact that some people reject their own inclusion.  “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine.”  The Jews of the Lord’s time referred to the Gentiles as “dogs” and “swine”, that is, those who dwelt “outside the camp” of the Jews.  But the deeper meaning here is of those who have rejected God.  Jesus, then, cautions his disciples not to spend their time with those who adamantly refuse to listen and who may be angered by the very mention of the name of God.  We cannot force God down anyone’s throats, that is to say.  Otherwise, if we try, they may “trample” your words underfoot, and “turn and tear you to pieces”.  As the Lord says in another place, “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city shake off the dust from your feet” (Matthew 10, 14).

“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets.”  The Golden Rule seems not to fit here, but it can throw light on anything around it.  Thus, it comments on the preceding verse that as we would not want others to try and force us to believe other than we do, we should not do so with others.  Now, we ought to attempt to persuade people to believe in the Gospel, but we do this with charity.  

“Enter through the narrow gate.”  We might wonder why a gate would be narrow.  It would be narrow to allow only certain animals in a given space and to keep certain animals out.  Even the animals that the gate was designed for would have to struggle to pass through it: “How narrow the gate and constricted the road.”  It is not easy to find, either.  The Lord speaks of the Faith here.  It is “narrow” in that only those who have prayed, fasted, and given alms may pass through it, but once entered, we can say with the Psalmist, “He has set me in a place of pasture. He has brought me to the waters of refreshment” (Psalm 23, 2).  The Lord also warns, “The gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction.”  That is, those who have indulged themselves throughout their lives enter through this wide gate.  While the narrow gate leads to fine pastures, the wide gate leads to the slaughterhouse.  The Lord advises us that “few” find the gate that leads to life, but “many” enter the gate that leads to destruction.  Why is this?  Because few people look for the narrow gate.  That is, many more people choose self-indulgence over the self-sacrifice required for Christian service.  Why does the Lord want us to know that few will be saved in comparison with the many who will not?  To incite us to work harder, to persevere in good works, to not take salvation for granted.

 The Solemnity of the Birthday of St. John the Baptist, Monday, June 24, 2024

Luke 1, 57–66, 80

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.

“When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son.”  Such great esteem fills the Holy Church for St. John the Baptist that she celebrates the day of his birth on earth as well as the day of his birth into eternal life.  As the promised Forerunner, he prepared the Chosen People for the coming of their Messiah, doing so by the example of his penitential life and by his conferred of the sign of the Baptism that Christ himself would fulfill and command.  John and his mother also present to us models of the humility necessary for those who believe, for just as Elizabeth said to Mary, at the time of her Visitation, “Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?”, so her son, John the Baptist, spoke to Jesus, “I ought to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me.”  Such should be our attitude when we approach the sacraments, for, in them, Christ comes to us.

We see John’s  humility again when his disciples point out to him that many who had followed him had begun to follow Jesus.  John replied, “The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase: but I must decrease” (John 3, 29-30).  John never forgets that his mission is not about himself but about the Lord Jesus.  Likewise, our missions here on earth are not about ourselves but about the Lord, and as we grow in faith and virtue, he becomes more evident in us.  This is also true regarding our will: the holier we become, the more nearly conformed with the will of God our own will becomes, and the less inclined we become in seeking anything that is not of God.

The importance of John the Baptist to the earliest Christians — and a sign of how significant he should be to us — is the amount of space in the Gospels given to him.  We are told more about him than about any of the Apostles.  In fact, we are told more about him than about the Lord’s Virgin Mother.  We are even given details concerning what he wore and ate.  

In this time when the true followers of the Lord are under pressure to conform themselves to the world, we look to St. John the Baptist who conformed himself only to the word he heard from God, opposing the world, and awaiting the Christ.